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At 24, Danielle Weber still pinches herself when she says she paints for a living.
Danielle Weber
- Age: 24
- Job: Artist
- Neighbourhood: Mount Waverley, living with parents
While studying health sciences as well as art, she built up to the point where she now derives her sole income from painting commissioned work.
It ranges from murals, to a logo on a barbershop wall, to a portrait of a fighter jet pilot for a client in the Middle East.
She works from a studio at her parents' house in the south-eastern suburbs.
Making it as an artist
"I've worked my way up to be able to make a living out of what I do. I've ended up here because I never chased money. I was always chasing what I loved and I think if you do that then the rest will follow. I mean, it took me six years to get here. I'm not saying it'll happen overnight.
When I first started painting, when I was 16 or 17, they were really dark self-portraits and I have hidden them away because I can't remember what frame of mind I was in.
I'd say most people know me for my realistic portraits but I work on abstract pieces, I work on murals, I've done cars, I've done animal portraits. I can't quite pinpoint my style yet. But I'm still really young for the art world. I've created a few originals but I haven't shown them and I think until I'm really confident in my own style I won't do that."
Why I paint
"I can lose myself in art and not think. It stops your mind from going a hundred miles an hour. It took me to my happy place when I was younger, and at school if there was any subject I could choose it was going to be art. It makes me a different person. It makes me go into my own little world."
Working for myself
"My life is a lot more flexible and I have a lot more freedom than many of my friends have. But in saying that, I live by my favourite quote which I've got tattooed on my leg: 'Without discipline there's no freedom.'
I don't have to go to work every day and work an office job, but I think sometimes people forget the motivation comes from myself, and to find that every day, it's sometimes like, 'oh it's nice weather today, it's 34 degrees, I could go to the beach'. But if I don't work, I don't get paid.
Everything to do with my business and my work is all me. It's not nine to five, it's 24-seven. It's emails, it's meetings, it's calls. It's not just the painting work. But then I can take holidays when I want, which is cool."
Daily routine
"Last year I didn't have a balance at all. I was locked up in my studio seven days a week. I thought I was loving it but, looking back now, I've sort of changed the way I'm living a bit.
I was sleeping three to four hours a night and I actually wasn't that tired. But I got really, really sick at one point and I was like, 'oh, okay, this might be because I'm not sleeping and I'm wanting to fit a million things in one day'. So this year I do have a routine.
I get up, I do my emails. I have a to-do list, I have goals every day. I generally paint at night so during the day I'll try to get everything done that I need to do with accounting, updating the website, packaging prints if I need to. If I'm working out on site at a mural it'll generally be a full day of work out there and I'll reverse the day."
Generational change
"If you look at where our parents came from and what they had as opposed to us now, I do notice the transition between work ethic and laziness. I'm speaking in general because I don't want to offend people, but I feel like a lot of people in my generation just expect things to be handed to them and they expect to earn a certain amount of money straight away. They don't probably appreciate hard work as much as what older generations did."
Priorities
"My priorities were to always have an income. From 13 I always wanted to support myself. I still live with my parents and I wouldn't be where I am without them, but I wanted to fund anything I wanted to do. Like, I funded all my travel myself.
My priorities have changed as I finished uni. They're more work-oriented. And family is a big thing. I'm really family-oriented because I owe my success to them. If they didn't support me doing this, I wouldn't be able to do it.
Everyone knows being an artist is pretty hard from the get-go. My priorities are family, work and then just staying self-aware and educated — you can get lost in the technological world."
Living at home
"I've always lived with my parents. I thank them every day for it because if I didn't, I wouldn't have been able to start my business. With all the outgoings at the start it was a bit difficult. I have a studio in the back of my parents' house and my prints business is also run out of here. Sometimes if you work from home there's no separation because you're always there. That's why it's great to do murals because it gets you out of the house.
Last year I got social anxiety if I had to leave the house. I'm the most outgoing person but because I was home so much I got so anxious.
As much as you love it, just because you love your job it doesn't mean you don't need a break from it."
Future
"Ten to 15 years down the track I will still be painting, maybe not as much. I have goals to open a café gallery and do something with kids as well — teaching. I'd like to do some talks in schools, universities if needed. Because I've found the talks I have done, they're mainly needed to address the parents because a lot of parents dictate what their children do.
Work is 80 per cent of your life. If you're not happy within your job that's relative to mental health as well, which is what I eventually want to tap into.
Especially in highly academic schools there's so many talented kids that just get told to do something that's going to pay them well. At the end of the day, if you're not passionate about it you're not going to be good in your job anyway."
Topics: contemporary-art, arts-and-entertainment, community-and-society, social-media, mount-waverley-3149, vic, melbourne-3000
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